Pro-Life Groups Support November "National Adoption Month"
by Paul Nowak
LifeNews.com Staff Writer
November 11, 2003
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — November is National Adoption month, and pro-life groups are eager to express their views and support of the institution.
Brad Matte of Life Issues Institute is planning on doing a special radio presentation this month entitled "Chosen Children." Visitors to the Life Issues Institute site can listen to the recent broadcast of "Life Issues: It’s National Adoption Month."
Adoption has become a less popular choice with the rise of abortion.
"It used to be that 20 percent of children were placed for adoption," Mattes told Focus on the Family. "Now we’re less than 2 (percent). I think the abortion industry has been very effective at creating an undeclared war on adoption."
According to Focus on the Family, out of about 1.5 million single women that become pregnant every year, less than 2 percent choose adoption.
"Every child deserves a permanent loving home and a permanent loving family," said Lee Allen, a spokesman for the National Council for Adoption. "National Adoption Month goes a long way to promoting that idea."
Analysis of the 2000 Census Data by the National Council for Adoption (NCFA), the number of adoptions has increased since 1996.
" The Census Bureau’s report found that in 2000 there were 41,975 children under age one who had been adopted. Even after downward adjustments for the (small) number of intercountry and foster care adoptions of children less than one, and for possible
over-reporting by respondents who did not follow the legal definition of adoption, this Census number seems to suggest a significant increase in domestic infant adoptions," stated the NCFA in a recent newsletter. "NCFA’s upcoming original research for the next Adoption Factbook will be able to tell us for sure."
Prior to 1996, in which there were 23,357 reported adoptions, adoption as a choice had been on the decline.
"When positively presented with accurate and complete information regarding the available options, women facing unintended pregnancies are much more likely to consider adoption planning," Lee Allen of the NCFA said. "Thorough adoption education benefits pregnancy counselors by increasing their skill-base and confidence, and benefits their clients by enabling them to make fully informed decisions."
The 2000 Census Bureau report also revealed that adopted children enjoy certain benefits. Children in adoptive households have a higher average household income, and a greater likelihood of living in a home owned by their adoptive parents, compared to their peers raised with their biological parents. Adoptive parents are more likely to be married, giving the children the benefit of two parents, and are generally better educated than biological parents.
Allen also told LifeNews.com of some of the obstacles that stand in the way of adoptions. The Council’s website helps parents overcome many of the difficulties, including locating attorneys and agencies.
Some of the obstacles include unaccountable family courts and the ideological commitment to preserving biological families, such as the Biological Connection Imperative.
"[Adoption] is how one joins a family," said Allen. "It is not a life-long process."
Related web sites:
National Council for Adoption – https://www.ncfa-usa.org
Brad Mattes’ National Adoption Month Broadcast – https://www.lifeissues.org/radioselection.html
